Problem with AutoLogon

[Craig Bourne]

I am running XP connected to a company network.
I set up the Scheduler Service and entered my logon credentials.
Then I set a scheduled time and locked my screen.
At the correct time, the login window appears and the cursor is blinking in the password box, but nothing happens after that. The password is not entered.
What do I need to do further?

[Marcus Tettmar]

Note that this post refers to AutoLogin in Macro Scheduler v11 and under. Macro Scheduler v12's AutoLogon no longer supports XP but uses an official AutoLogon mechanism for Vista and Windows 7.

Here are my notes for testing the scheduler service and AutoLogon to see if it works on your system:

Autologon is only required if you need the macro to log into Windows. So is only required if you need to schedule a macro to start when Windows is logged out or locked. Otherwise if you just want to schedule a macro when Macro Scheduler is exited - but Windows is logged in - you do not need to specify anything under AutoLogon.

If you *do* want to use AutoLogon to log into Windows first bear in mind that we make no guarantees that AutoLogon will work for your environment. Here are some steps to try to see if you can get AutoLogon working. Please run through these steps one at a time.

0. Make sure you are logged in as an Administrator.

1. Make sure the services are installed correctly in Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services. You should see the AutoLogon service which should NOT be started and should be set to Manual.

2. If you are logging out completely (as opposed to just locking the workstation) you will need to use the Macro Scheduler Service. Check that the Macro Scheduler Service is installed. It will NOT be running when Macro Scheduler is running - that's fine.

3. In Macro Scheduler click on Tools/Options and ensure "Keep Scheduling on Exit" is CHECKED.

4. Set up a schedule for your macro. First let's make sure the schedule itself works WITHOUT AutoLogon. So create a schedule for a minute from now and LEAVE Macro Scheduler running. Watch what happens - does the macro fire? If not you've configured the schedule wrong. If so, continue ...

5. Under the AutoLogon tab CHECK "Unlock Computer to run this script" and *UNCHECK* "When started by Scheduler service run as...". Enter the Username and Password FOR THE SAME USER YOU ARE CURRENTLY LOGGED IN AS.

6. Reset the schedule for a few minutes from now.

7. LEAVE Macro Scheduler running for now, let's test a locked workstation scenario:

8. LEAVING Macro Scheduler running, do Start/Run and type:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

9. The workstation should now lock. Wait for the schedule time to pass plus a minute for good measure. Does the workstation unlock and run the macro? If not, we'd need to look closely at your systems security configuration.

10. If the above DID work, now we can try with a LOGGED OUT workstation. Reset the schedule for 5 minutes from now, allowing time to log out.

11. EXIT Macro Scheduler.

12. Check the services again and make sure the "Macro Scheduler Service" is now running.

13. Log Out of Windows. Wait for the schedule .... does it work?

Don't worry - that's not really 13 steps, I started with zero.

Please note that we do not and can not guarantee that AutoLogon will work for everyone. We have a disclaimer on our website to this effect. AutoLogon is basically a workaround which circumvents Windows security. Vista plugs it, quite rightly. It is highly likely that future XP and 2003 service packs will plug it also. Some security fixes/service packs may already prevent it from working. For that reason we do not intend to support it in the future and are very likely to remove it from the product altogether.

Sometimes AutoLogon will work in a LOCKED scenario but not when Logged Out. But they are both as secure. So if it works when Locked consider locking the server rather than logging out of it altogether.

Another approach is to compile the macro to an EXE and then schedule with the Windows Task Scheduler instead. Windows Task Scheduler runs as a service and gives you options to run with a specified user level and run interactively. So that may be a better solution.

[Bob Hansen]

Thanks for the excellent notes on this Marcus.

But, please do not remove it completely.

Perhaps add the disclaimer notes to the Help file for AutoLogOn, and/or a link to these forum notes. Provide it for those instances where it does work, but note that is at the user's risk.